#tbf I think it would be fun to see these characters interact

[kidcataldo]

I keep accidentally typing “Carla” instead of “Clara” in my doctor who wip

[vivziepoparchives]

You had mentioned lollygag and dawn being the sins of lust and gluttony respectively, and I'm curious where that was actually mentioned because I don't remember the sins ever being a part of zp (though tbf the line between zp and hh used to be very blurred in her pre-2015 works)

Viv had a looooot of plans for Zoophobia that never came to fruition. One of them was the idea of the seven deadly sins for her demons and angels (I think) arc which was eventually repurposed as Hazbin Hotel/used as inspo for that worldbuilding.

So, she would talk about these plans publicly and draw the characters that she wanted to show up in later chapters of Zoophobia from time to time. You can read about it some on the Zoophobia wiki. But here's a little rundown since the info's a bit scattered there.

In a video showing off her sketchbooks, you can see concepts for the seven rings of Hell. Lust and Gluttony can be seen below.

She also drew and talked about a couple of the characters meant to represent the seven deadly sins. Lollygag was the sin of Lust and notably asexual. She was said to be asexual because she'd seen and done it all and now she was just bored of sex. She was also the mother of Tom (an incubus) who played a major part in Zoophobia via his relationship with Addison: a main character. She had a few other children but not all remained canon and Tom was the most important one story-wise.

We also saw the country gentleman Dawn O'Deedle, the sin of Gluttony. He was a jovial moth demon who had children of his own but I don't believe they were ever intended to be any sort of main focus. It was also mentioned once he had a very large wife lol

While this version of Hell had its own Lucifer, he wasn't the sin of Pride that I'm aware of. The sin of Pride was originally Jestine who was disgraced and exiled. She had a daughter named Ink who got a fair bit of art and some interactions with Damian as they were both children of Demon royalty.

But the most interesting sin of this original version of Hell, was Jex. Jex was Viv's first concept of Wrath. However, early works by Viv are very inconsistent and shifting. Characters morph and meld and become something else often. They gain and lose canon facts over time.

Before Jex there was Malvada. Malvada was a very old villain character from the 2000s. He was an eldritch deer creature and Jex in her original concept was only a very violent minion of his.

Eventually Viv combined Jex and Malvada's roles, taking traits from each, to form the Zoophobia version of Alastor.

And that's all I really know about the seven deadly sins in Zoophobia's version of Hell. Not all of this was always canon at the same time because some of these characters were around for many years and saw a lot of changes and repurposing. But it's fun to look back on these early concepts of things to see how we got to where we are today with Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel.

(Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this. I'm writing this one on the fly. This is also why I didn't provide sources, but sources for each of these things will be or have been provided when uploading the individual art pieces.)

[stealingyourbones]

(Really sorry if would have been better as a submission, it’s less of a concrete idea more of a vague concept though. Also apologies in advance if you’ve already discussed this before)

The DPxDC crowd should really consider pulling stuff from the Vertigo lines from time to time.

There’s just a bunch of untapped possibilities. Like Danny could meet fellow child ghosts Charles and Edwin, he could have a conversation with Death or mess around in the Dreaming!

I think all lot of the Vertigo stuff can be outside of some people’s interest range (which I’m not judging anyone for, it’s not for everyone) but it’d be really cool to see what people do with it.

I only used examples from sandman because that’s what I’m most familiar with but there’s so many cool storylines and fun character interactions to be had.

Oh absolutely! Vertigo is like,,, DC’s 18+ comic run? I have no other way to describe it besides more serious comics with more serious themes. They also severely. For a while the Hellblazer runs were also Vertigo, I think that’s the only thing in the DPxDC sphere that is touched. Tbf I too haven’t too many Vertigo comics myself as I just have so many collections I need to finish that I’ve yet to pick up any Vertigo runs (besides Animal Man I think. Animal Man was in Vertigo comics right or am I tripping). I’m going to take a peek at some over this week and try to find a few comic runs to read :)

[greenbergsays]

Idk how to explain it like coherently but one of the reasons I'm not a huge fan of Tommy dating buck is that he just seems.. Mean? I'm watching the season 8 Halloween episode and especially when it comes to bucks little quirks and everything, he just seems so dismissive. Even Eddie feels a little extra rude in this ep but in general when it comes to bucks whole "curses are real and I'm being haunted" thing, he's more.. Endeared? Is that the word? Like Eddie doesn't really believe in it all, but when buck gets wound up, he seems to have a nice balance of finding buck kinda cute and keeping him from spinning out too bad over it, but Tommy just seems cruel about it, like he thinks buck is stupid? Idk am I reading into this too much? I'm a lil out of it tbf fjdlxsl

It's funny, because I just saw a tweet yesterday talking about this scene and in it, OP said, "Eddie is laughing at the idea of a curse, Tommy is laughing at Buck," and I've been mulling it over ever since.

On the surface, you might say, There's literally no evidence for that interpretation, you just think that because you hate the guy, and you would be correct on both accounts.

I don't like Tommy as a person because least of all, Tommy is canonically unkind, to say nothing of his worse qualities and in the scene itself, there is no evidence whatsoever for that interpretation, so it would be easy to dismiss it as character bias.

But I think to a large extent, OP was on the right track, and I think the evidence for it comes from each character's prior interactions with Buck.

Because historically, Eddie has always been dismissive of the idea that jinxes or curses are real, no matter who it is. He's teased the whole team about it in at least two different episodes based around those subjects.

But that teasing, however pointed, has always come from a place of camaraderie, love, and respect. These are His People. They've been through so much shit together, so he's allowed to make fun of them when they're being silly, just like they make fun of him.

And yeah, you're right in that Eddie often finds himself soft-domming Buck calming Buck down when he gets wound up. He knows how to talk to Buck in a way that eases the spiral.

So it's easy to look at that scene and explain Eddie's behavior away as, "Buck's spiraling out hard and Eddie is being extra nonchalant so that it can calm him down."

Because Buck actually does take a lot of his cues from Eddie, whether he realizes it or not.

Tommy's behavior feels different because he's a character with limited screen time, but with that limited screen time, we've been shown that he is always dismissive or belittling of other people's feelings.

Chimney's feelings in his Begins episode, Hen's feelings in her Begins episode, and every single interaction he has with Buck.

During the interaction with Eddie and Marisol, Tommy makes a very pointed comment about a closet, all but trying to out Buck right there in the middle of the restaurant.

Then, without so much as a conversation about what happened, he's tells Buck, "You're not ready," and leaves him behind. He decides Buck's feelings for him.

When Bobby is hurt, Buck tries to open up and be vulnerable with him, and Tommy's only response is the innuendo-ladened, "I hope you have Daddy issues."

Et cetera, et cetera.

Tommy has been crafted to be a character that cares primarily about his own wants, needs, and feelings with little to no regard about those things when it comes to other people.

The only time we see him emotionally vulnerable is when he's breaking up with Buck and we've never once seen someone be emotionally vulnerable with him where that vulnerability was met with understanding and kindness. He's downright cruel when it's Chimney and Hen and he's dismissive when it's Buck.

He takes himself too seriously and doesn't entertain or join in with the sillier antics of the 118 crew because he doesn't want to be seen as childish. There's a lot of insecurity in Tommy, even at his big age, and it shows in his treatment of others.

It genuinely makes me wonder why a man like Tommy would even date a man like Buck, because Buck is a wonderful guy, but he is also a silly little goose. He has big emotions and many spirals and a lot of anxiety that doesn't really get talked about, but most of all, he's still a big kid at heart. He still finds joy in the sillier things in life, like dressing up for a bachelor party, and he wants a partner that finds joy in it, too.

Tommy is not that man. He's never been that man, he won't ever be that man, and he very obviously finds those traits undesirable in other people. Their incompatibility should've been apparent early on to him in particular.

So, yeah, when you examine each of their characters, take their two histories with Buck into account, and then look at that scene in the hospital, it's a lot easier to swallow Eddie's reaction than it is to swallow Tommy's.

We know even before that scene that Eddie loves Buck. He's shown it throughout their entire friendship. He's shown up for Buck emotionally, he's talked Buck off more than one ledge, he meets Buck where he's at, silly costumes and all. He and Buck have been emotionally vulnerable with each other more than once.

In many ways, you could say Eddie has earned the right to laugh.

Tommy hasn't done any of those things, though, and he's shown more than once that he doesn't really care about Buck's comfort or his feelings.

That's why his laughter feels mean.

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

Kung Fu Panda 4 Review

Ok, I saw the movie yesterday and I have some thoughts. I think the film is good, but no where near the level of the first two. It's more like the third tonally. But tbf, nothing can top the second film in my opinion. KFP 2 really stepped up in its depth both in terms of its villain and message. The fourth film is very much the opposite. It's also very predictable and you can easily figure out what was gonna happen pretty early on.

What I liked: the animation is still gorgeous. Seriously, there were some very visually pleasing shots. The character models all looked great and I thought it was cool how the villain still has scales when she transforms. The music is also really nice and fun to listen to. The voice acting was also good and I thought Awkafina did a good job (major step up from Scuttle).

Po's dads were also really fun when on screen. It's nice to see them bond over Po and they do work well off of each other. They were the best part of the film, animation aside. The villain is also pretty cool with her abilities. We will talk about her more in a bit. And I did like Zhen and I'm looking forward to see what they do with her in the future. She's energetic and I did like her design.

What I didn't like: too. much. comedy. Ok look, I know this is an animated film for kids, but what made the first three films (particularly the second one) so good is that the balanced the jokes with depth. This film does have some messages, but it's intercut with so many jokes during dialogue that it takes away from it. They really needed to let this film breathe and have more serious moments to just talk and let things sink in. The villain brought back the old villains and stole their abilities (this was in trailer so not really spoiler). Why don't they do more with that? There is so much untapped potential here.

And that's my other big issue with the film: so much potential. Some of the ideas in this film are really, really good, but they only scratch the surface with it. I wanted to know more about the villain. I wanted to see our fave villains interact more. I wanted to see the villain use her powers more. But we don't get that; we only get the bare minimum. In simpler terms, there's no big "wow!" moment that the other films had.

Spoilers below (tread carefully)

Why did they bring the villains back if they were going to do almost nothing with them? The climax of the film was the Chameleon stealing the villains' abilities and fighting Po but we pretty much saw that in the trailer. Tai Lung gets to do some stuff, but I wanted more. Half of his lines were jokes anyway and I didn't vibe with it. Why did they bring him back if he was just gonna comment on things? I don't remember our favorite snow leopard being this comical. He did quip, but there was still a hardened edge to him. Idk. Maybe he got therapy in the spirit realm. Shen and Kai get crumbs, but again, they could've done so much more. And wasn't Kai destroyed completely?

With Shen and Tai Lung, I would've wanted to see more. I'm glad Tai Lung did finally come to respect Po and it does make sense. But Shen? The last time we saw him he rejected Po's help. Unless he too got the same spirit realm therapy Tai Lung did, him bowing to Po does feel very OOC. Nitpicking further, why was Shen brought back anyway? The Chameleon presumably doesn't know who Po is and Shen isn't a kung fu master. With the exception of the fanservice route, this choice only makes sense if the Chameleon was aware of Shen's actions in Gongmen and thought his level of evil would fit her vibe.

Nitpicking aside, there was so much opportunity for Po to confront his villains again and have a deep, serious moment with them. Whether either side likes it or not, they're reunited for a short amount of time. Why not capitalize on this great opportunity?

Speaking of the villain, so much untapped potential. Her design is great, her abilities are really cool, and Viola Davis does a good job voicing her. So why doesn't she get to do more? Imagine a really cool fight sequence where Po confronts her, but she shifts so much that it begins to mess with his head. Or she transforms into the older villains and Po is caught off guard? Instead, we get half the climax spoiled for us in the trailer. What was really cool about the other three was that we got multiple fight scenes with them to showcase their abilities. Thus, the final battle dialed it up to an 11 and we got a truly epic finale. Here, it feels like there should've been more, but there wasn't. Even her backstory feels lacking. It's there... but only surface level. Even Shen, arguably the cruelest of them all, had nuance and depth.

Also, why couldn't we get more of the Furious Five outside of a glorified cameo? Tigress and Po friendship is truly amazing.

As much as the jokes miss, there are some good bits. Shifu trying to deal with Po's shenanigans always crack me up. I also like the bit where Po tries to meditate and his thoughts get in the way. Because hey guess what, that's what my head is like and it's really freaking hard to quiet it down. So, there's that. I just wish the writers didn't feel like they had to insert jokes in almost every line of dialogue, you know? Li and Ping dad adventures are great except half the lines are jokes about how worried they are for Po or how not tough they are. Why not have a deeper conversation? I think it would make everything feel more natural.

I also wish Po himself was a tad more mature. I'm not expecting Shifu or Tigress levels of seriousness, but I felt that he kinda was a bit too childish. Po is one of those characters who loves to have fun, but knows when he has to be serious. However, he also likes to lighten things up with comedy. In this movie, it felt like he only really leaned into the comedy side of things. He had his moments, but I'll be honest, I really missed the "the only thing that matters is what you choose to be now" levels of dialogue. The proverb joke got old real fast, ok?

Grace Randolph from Beyond the Trailer described this movie as episodic and I can see it. The story bits are very segmented between the villain, heroes, and Po's dads. The flow and pacing of this film really needed to be upgraded.

Ok, that's all I got for now. I'm sure I'll think of something else to say (aside from encouraging everyone to rewatch KFP 2 because I'll never get enough of that film).

[necrotic-nephilim]

Give me your most controversial dc opinions!!!

HA YES GLADLY I WOULD LOVE TO (added a read more because i had a lot of words oopsie)

The Titans Tower Incident was in character for Jason Todd. at worst, it's a *bit* over-dramatic and a little cringey, but if you consider his actions, his motivations, and what he *actually* does, i honestly don't think it's OOC for him. he's just kind of a dramatic asshole in that era and i stand by that comic. the issue isn't the comic itself, it's how people interpret it.

i think the DC fandom, specifically the Batfamily fandom, really likes to claim to be progressive for brownie points, but then will have the one token woman that everyone decides is acceptable to hate. like, it's one thing if you dislike Carrie Kelley, i get it. Frank Miller isn't a great writer of women and she can be a lack of a character in the original Dark Knight Returns. but if you go out of your way making constant edits and posts shitting on her, it's *weird*. especially when most of the people shitting on her haven't even consumed her source, and their reasons for disliking her can apply to any other Robin, especially Tim. but as long as you put say, Steph or Cass on a pedestal, you can talk on and on about how you want to kill Carrie for the crime of existing. it feels like acceptable misogyny. i also think this extends to writers. if you put say, Gail Simone on a pedestal, you're free to blame everything under the sun on Devin Grayson. (to be clear i think you can and should hate Devin Grayson for a lot of things, but most rumors about her are untrue and if you look at every badly written comic and go "sounds like something Devin Grayson would write" that's really weird bc everything she's done, men like Chuck Dixon, Tom King, Tom Taylor, Marv Wolfman, etc have done in tenfold.) like, misogyny = bad unless it's That One Woman We've All Agreed To Hate. it's weird and i keep noticing it. and no one seems to unpack it. (i mostly see this on TikTok, not Tumblr tbf)

i don't care if you ship BruDick or not, but it's not weird for canon content to imply or state Dick had a crush on Bruce when he was first taken in. even in canon where Dick sees Bruce as a "father figure" in the most generous sense, that bond took years to build and when Dick was freshly orphaned, he *had* the memory of loving parents and didn't want Bruce to fill that role. you don't have to ship BruDick, you don't even have to like batcest, but if you're vitriolic toward just the idea that "hey maybe a young kid on the cusp of puberty might have some weird feelings to work out about the canonically very attractive mysterious playboy who took him in before seeing him as family because that bond took years to build" is nasty and terrible and wrong to you, you don't like the Batfamily, you just like the nuclear "neat" version of it in your head

the Batfamily characters are *all* too hypercompetent. like all of them are just *too* good at what they do that in order to write them in interesting arcs together, you have to willingly make some of them OOC in order to not immediately have the Problem wrapped up. i get it, Bruce is the greatest detective, Tim is wicked smart, Jason's a heavy hitting brawler, but we've reached a point where all of these characters have so many buffs they're not *fun* anymore. especially not in a group setting where you need to justify them needing each other's help. and even worse-so when they interact outside of the Gotham, you end up making every non-Batfam character seem useless just to make the Batfamily look cool. it's exhausting. i want to see these characters lose fights, look stupid, and not be the best for once. they're all getting so good they're just kind of. boring. which is the worst sin for a character, IMO.

i think we should go like. a good year of all Justice League-related teams not having a single Bat on the roster. just as a cleanse so *someone else* can shine. i get why non-Batfam DC fans are sick of the Batfamily bc jesus. it's oversaturation of the market.

power scaling "who would win" fights are fucking boring and i don't care. that's the least interesting thing about the fandom. you're missing the point of all of these characters if you only care about who could win a brawl. also it's just a stupid debate because the answer will *always* be: whoever the author of the comic wants to win.

the Batfamily is too damn big. i love every single one of them do not get me wrong. i'd die for the little niche characters who are likely never going to be relevant again like Julia Pennyworth or Kate Spencer. but it's too fucking big at this point. it's insisted to us that these characters are family but like. half of them have barely existed on the same page together more than once. it's ridiculous and it cannot sustain itself. none of these characters are allowed proper shine because they'll just get dropped for the next new shiny character. i think Maps Mizoguchi is a cool lil lady, but i know in my soul in like. three years she will fade into comics limbo and we'll have a new shiny character to fawn over. it's a brutal cycle bc DC doesn't know how to give any of these characters follow through, just wants to wave around cool new concepts.

both Under The Red Hood and Death In The Family are mediocre adaptations and strip the most important emotional elements of Jason's story from the plot. you can't properly adapt Jason's death if you leave his mother out of it. like they're phenomenal movies as their own pieces of media, but they lack the necessary emotional weight for Jason.

on the note of adaptations: the Young Justice cartoon is i think the best case study of "how do you react to a piece of media that's amazing on it's own, but is a fucking horrible adaptation?" because like, i can't discredit it. it's a good show. but it's a bad adaptation and i think people using it as an entry point for DC can make their views of certain characters and teams *very* warped. the Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey movie falls into a similar vein for me. if that movie was it's own thing with original characters, it'd likely be a top five movie for me. but because it's *such a fucking bad adaptation* i can't help but hate it for brutalizing the characters and the general concept of the BoP. it should've been a Gotham Sirens movie, and Young Justice should've been a Teen Titans show. and sure, adaptations don't owe us accuracy, but they have negative effects on the comics when they gain popularity. so i struggle to like Young Justice bc of how badly it's affected certain characters.

also on the note of adaptations: the best adaptation of how comic media operates is the Sandman tv show. adapting comics to tv shows or movies is difficult bc comic arcs don't operate the way show/movie arcs do, but the Sandman show proves it's absolutely doable to adapt the storytelling style while still making the typical adjustments you need for an adaptation.

DC needs more Deaf representation. in most areas, DC either matches Marvel or outperforms Marvel with representation of marginalized identities, but it's fucking tragic we have no deal Deaf rep in DC whereas Marvel has quite a few to pick from. this one is personal bc i'm Deaf but it does fuck me up the only option we have is a side character from Tim Drake: Robin who doesn't appear anywhere else and isn't a great character overall. DC i'm in your walls.

on the note of representation, if i see one more person say Titans had "perfect casting" while in the same breath admitting Dick was whitewashed, you are weird and i dislike you. it's really fucking weird that whitewashing is permissable to this fandom if the actor cast/fancast is hot. Dick should've been a Roma actor. Damian should not be fancast as a white actor. it's the bare minimum.

i have so many more but i will end with this especially controversial one: Dan Mora's art is overhyped. that man has the worst same face syndrome i've ever seen and i will not lie half the time i can't tell which Robin he's drawing. his art is technically gorgeous and it's so pretty to look at, but begging for every comic series to be drawn by him is boring and terrible. the art style of a comic reflects it's genre. wanting all comic art to look like Dan Mora's art is sucking the style out of comics. i miss art styles like Todd Nauck's that clearly reflected the genre of the comic.

i lied i have one more i'm REALLY passionate about: Tim's vigilante name after Red Robin should not be bird-themed. naming him Sparrow or Cardinal is *just* as bad as naming him Red Robin longterm. they're *just* as derivative and they *sound* cool but don't hold any real unique identity for Tim outside of Robin. like it baffles me we all agree he needs to move on from Robin and then decided "let's name him Robin Lite". if he has a bird name, it should be Jackdaw so at the very least, he's not red anymore. and Jackdaw could be a fun callback to Drake, in that it uses part of Tim's real name (his middle name, Jackson) while standing out a bit. but if i really had creative control i'd give him a completely unique name. if it has to be Batfamily related, Gray Ghost. but in my head, his name should be Conspiracy. i could write a lengthy meta on why and tbh it is based in my love for the Question and wanting Tim to have a similar detective noir-esque gritty solo, but i genuinely don't think he should be Cardinal or Sparrow. those names only continue his identity issues of being trapped as either Robin or a Robin knockoff.

[seriousbrat]

it’s so interesting to see how the interpretation of teen (boy) behavior in books has changed since they were written. it’s mostly for the better, but i think it does cause some people to refuse to engage in good faith with the source material, or on its own terms. i’ve loved hp since i was a kid, but i had never interacted at all with the fan side of things until maybe a year ago, and it was very odd (on the whole — which is why i’ve mostly just stuck to a handful of blogs with great fics and meta, like yours) to see how a lot of the text is taken now, compared to how my friends and i understood it at the time. i think its totally fair — and good, on a cultural level — to point out that the boy who pulls your pigtails isn’t being cute, and your male friend being in love with you doesn’t mean you owe him anything. but it’s also like … kind of intentionally closing the eyes to how these parts of the story are meant to come across? and i am not coming in here as some kind of “boys will be boys” person, but teenagers are messy in their relationships and their friendships, and more relevantly, it’s very clear what types of dynamics are being presented by the text. and it can be fun to pick apart what kinds of narratives are meant to be taken as romantic in different stories written in different times/places and why, but to look at the story on a story level you’ve got to also work with what it gives you.

Yes I think you make a very good point! I agree and personally I think both Snape and James would be written slightly differently if they were written today. Also, imo there's an element of wishful thinking coupled with naivety (and this has always existed tbf) when people who haven't ever been cis teenage boys try to write cis teenage boys haha. Like the 'closing of eyes' isn't always intentional. I know I keep going on about the Inbetweeners but I literally think watching that as a teen myself gave me an insight that I can never take back about what teenage boys are like haha.

Like this isn't to say that teenage boys are all exactly alike, or that there's some inherent, natural difference between boys and girls in terms of mentality or personality, but there is a social difference, generally speaking, a constructed one that happens because boys and girls are raised and socialised in a patriarchy. It's obviously not universal at all, and that's not even accounting for trans kids and the complexities they face, because even among cis boys and girls or men and women there's endless variety, and gender absolutely does not determine personality, interests, etc. Unfortunately it does influence them, though, that's our reality.

In terms of fiction, especially fanfic, obv one is free to do as they please. But there is such a thing as narrative voice, which can be an important thing to consider. Again when it comes to fanfiction it Does Not Matter that much, it's for fun, but in published fiction (or if you care about quality ig) it just is something you should consider. This is where the 'Men Writing Women' thing comes in, where you read something so obviously written by a man who doesn't understand how women (generally) think or speak or act at all. And in our patriarchal society such usually ends up being offensive and has often been overlooked and accepted when it shouldn't be. I don't think it's helpful to pretend men can't write women either, since plenty of male authors write female characters beautifully and the rest shouldn't be let off the hook. If you can't write women, skill issue and you shouldn't be published.

Anyway it's vastly more forgivable and understandable, and it pains me to say it but I think you can sometimes tell when it's a woman writing a man or a boy too. I will say on the whole I think women are better at writing men than the reverse haha, probably because we've been socialised to empathise with men whereas boys are not taught (by society) to empathise with women. Maybe women even empathise a little too much tbh. Maybe that's the problem, like we subconsciously over-project our ideals onto male characters, making them too nice, too woke, too cuddly, too sweet, because that's what we want to see, and leaving out the nastier elements that are so common. Again, that's not necessarily a problem!! Only if you're trying to create a realistic, effective portrayal of a certain (average) type of teenage boy-- which you don't have to do. I'd raise my eyebrows at an unrealistic portrayal much more in published fiction than fanfiction personally.

And ofc you can always choose to write a character who diverges from the accepted norm, but to do so effectively has to be a deliberate choice and done thoughtfully. For a boy like James, who is very average, the norm, he's decent enough but no Woke Feminist King haha. He's not meant to be.

Anyway, I think that's why the Marauders et al (including Death Eaters lol) are nowadays often portrayed like sweet little babies who all cuddle and take care of each other and respect women LOL. Like whatever, it's escapism haha, it's understandable. But sometimes I do think a lot of these people have never really interacted with many gay men or know what their culture is like. lmao. straight men maybe, but in a limited way. if you've ever had the misfortune to be with a group of cishet men who are talking freely with each other you'll know what I mean. again this is GENERAL. and socially constructed, not inherent. but very common nevertheless.

[marley-manson]

what evidence do you have that bj and hawkeye are only friends because they are "trapped in an army base" and "hawkeye doesn't have any better options"?

tbf I didn't say they're only friends because they're trapped on an army base, I said BJ only gets away with his late season shit because they're trapped on an army base. That said, I do think if they'd met anywhere else, like at a medical conference, they wouldn't have become friends, and yeah the way they clash in the later seasons, I don't think they'd stay friends if Hawkeye wasn't stuck with him.

My evidence is:

Hawkeye describing BJ as a good clean-cut family man and adding "Despite that, I really like the guy," in Our Finest Hour, indicating that on a surface level they're not that compatible. On a deeper level of incompatibility, you have episodes like Preventative Medicine where they clash on a deep ethical level and don't reconcile their points, they simply choose to drop the argument. You also have their respective attitudes to hardship as highlighted in later seasons - BJ "saves [his] pshaws for things he can do something about," and largely remains passive give or take moments of sudden lashing out (eg the end of Back Pay) when he loses his self control, while Hawkeye is always acting on his feelings as much as possible whether he can affect change or not, because it helps him not feel helpless. BJ derides and mocks this attitude (calling him crazy in Back Pay and Tell it To the Marines, calling his tongue depressor tower pointless in Depressing News, etc) and Hawkeye ignores him and does what he needs to do anyway. They do not help each other see eye to eye or meet in the middle, they simply clash and do their own thing.

More headcanony, but I also think they're incompatible emotionally, in that Hawkeye wants people to open up to him and spill their feelings, and BJ is one of the characters most allergic to doing that, and almost never supports Hawkeye when he wants to talk about his feelings (Blood and Guts, Depressing News, GFA, etc). They have a very uneven relationship where Hawkeye is BJ's emotional support whenever BJ snaps, but BJ ditches Hawkeye when Hawkeye just needs his emotional support (this is what "Would you hold me in your arms or would you let me lie there and bleed?" is about), and I think BJ tries to make up for this with big gestures, but Hawkeye is more about the day to day support and solidarity with each other.

There's also the intensity of the rebound vibe in Welcome to Korea part 1 where Hawkeye refocuses on BJ after moping about Trapper and seems to deliberately explore how compatible they can be as friends - the babysitter comment to suss out whether he'd be a partner in womanizing, his willingness to break rules and flout authority, his sense of humour. BJ passes, so Hawkeye accepts him. It feels calculated because Hawkeye needs a replacement Trapper. ("We need to get him started on his ulcer," as potential evidence of Hawkeye wanting him to be Trapper 2.0)

BJ's attitude throughout season 4, in which he stamps out his own reactions and feelings to align himself with Hawkeye. The Bus has a thread of a battle of wills between Hawkeye and BJ over whether or not to include Frank, which Hawkeye wins. In Hey Doc he also wants Hawkeye to be nicer to Frank, but in the rest of the season he's right there with Hawkeye making fun of him. In The Gun BJ stands respectfully when Margaret comes to their table and Hawkeye glares at him disapprovingly, so then BJ turns it into a joke, seemingly correcting his own behaviour.

Wheelers and Dealers characterizes BJ as resentful in a way that makes him passive aggressive, which rings very true to his character to me. In Wheelers and Dealers he bemoans being so nice and passive and lashes out. "Who cares about what they want, I'm doing what I want for a change." This obviously says that he buries parts of himself to make nice with people habitually, as part of how he interacts with people, and I think you can see him doing it with Hawkeye early on.

You also have episodes like Heroes and Stars and Stripes where BJ alternately mocks Hawkeye for getting the spotlight and lords his own spotlight over Hawkeye, because he's insecure and presumably feels overshadowed by Hawkeye.

This is all to support my take that BJ moulds himself to suit Hawkeye because they're not intrinsically all that compatible as people, and he resents being the one to do that. So later BJ lashing out with mean pranks and psychological warfare (Bottoms Up, Dear Uncle Abdul, Joker Is Wild, what feels to me like negging in No Laughing Matter, etc) and ditching/mocking Hawkeye when he's upset about something (Back Pay, Depressing News, Give Em Hell Hawkeye, Blood and Guts, etc) is a response to that resentment when he feels more secure in Hawkeye putting up with it.

I think BJ would probably mould himself to fit anyone he wants to be friends with, but I don't think if given the option, he'd choose to be friends with Hawkeye. He disapproves of several things about Hawkeye even initially - his aforementioned lack of patience with Frank, his rampant sexuality (eg he does disapprove of Hawkeye sleeping with Carlye in The More I See You, and you also have several instances of BJ making fun of Hawkeye when it comes to his attitude towards sex, eg Taking the Fifth, Inga). And I don't think Hawkeye would choose to be friends with a monogamous married suburbanite if they weren't forced together right after Hawkeye lost his last war zone bff.

My evidence for Hawkeye only putting up with BJ's late season attitude because he's trapped is that he tries to put his foot down multiple times and fails because a) the 4077 is a very small world, and b) BJ needs his emotional support in a war zone. And every time he comes back they don't address what they fought over or discuss it or reconcile it, they simply drop it because they're reliant on their friendship.

In Ain't Love Grand he sleeps in the front office but comes back to share good news with BJ and emotionally support him. In The Most Unforgettable Characters they drop the fight because it upsets Radar without addressing why they were fighting. In Picture This Margaret manipulates Hawkeye into going back to BJ by lying about BJ needing his support. In The Joker is Wild and Bottoms Up Hawkeye mildly pranks BJ back in a tag and calls them even even though he's taking a loss.

It's also worth noting that Hawkeye hates BJ's friend Leo's extremely weaponized style of pranking. He's fine with shit like exploding cigars, not fine with him getting BJ court martialed. BJ is fine with it and thinks it's funny, which strikes me as another unaddressed incompatibility that feeds into the vibe of BJ's pretty intense psychological warfare later on, which Hawkeye is generally upset by rather than seeing it as all good fun.

And in GFA they both initially intend to leave without seeing each other again, BJ trying to leave a week early despite knowing his travel orders are sus and without saying goodbye or leaving a note, and Hawkeye expecting and ecstatic to be flown home when released from the hospital only to be ordered back to the 4077 for one more week. Also in GFA Hawkeye says goodbye for good, fully expecting to never see BJ again and sad about it but accepting.

Oh also the fact that Welcome to Korea is structured as a series of horrible things happening in a war zone that bond them together through shared trauma is another piece of strong evidence for the reading that being in a warzone together and needing each others' support is why they become friends, when otherwise they might not look twice at each other.

Ultimately you can take all this stuff and also interpret it as two guys who fall in genuine love/intense friendship and put up with each other because of that, but I think there's more than enough evidence that them being trapped together in hell is a major reason they become and stay friends, and imo it's a solid reading of their relationship, and also infinitely more interesting to me.

[mangogoop]

!!!DRAGON'S RISING S2 PART 2 SPOILERS!!!

(i don't want to spoil people who didn't watch the early release and want to wait until it officially comes out so don't read if no spoil)

Okay so I have many thoughts about the rest of this season but we are mainly going to focus on jay (cus i want to)

WHAT I LIKED (my opinion):

- how he joined Ra's and that he owes it to him since he 'saved him from the administration' amazing great love it chef kiss. Loved the reveal of it with jay turning around and the ninja responding with 😮

- Him losing to Nya in the fight. To be fair I would've loved it either way but i like it specifically because it gives Jay a reason for hating Nya (due to him failing Ra's) so potential for angst in the future

- Nya's 'i love you' to jay and then him responding 'and i hate you' hit me like a fricking brick love it

- Ra's saying to Jay 'i didn't save you to fail' (or something along those lines i don't remember BUT STILL) good line makes me feel bad for my boy. Because like Jay wanting to repay Ra's but failing making him feel weak and not useful and AH it hurts but we love the angst

- Jay being a menace. The shatter spin definitely adds to this cus I want the writers make me not like what this character is doing, hate his actions. And his attitude is a good place to start so hopefully he will start doing some messed up stuff in the future

WHAT COULD'VE BEEN BETTER (in my opinion):

- The portrayal of jay's power. I feel like him doing the shatter spin then immediately losing to Nya making him not really be portrayed as a threat at all (which makes me sad cus he's powerful pls he is). I'm not saying he shouldn't have lost to Nya but maybe make him show his strength in some other way (through another fight or training beforehand but he's not recognized by the ninja so the shock of it being jay is still there).

- How long he was on screen......we got like 5 minutes of jay AH. pls like i felt that through the posters for the rest of this season I got the impression he was going to play a huge role (aka be in more than 1 ep). That may just be me but i feel like they kinda just discarded jay and were like ya thats it he got sent somewhere else now lol. Like huh??? where he go???

- Again this may just be me but i'm not always the hugest fan of 'explains aloud during a fight where this character has been'. Like cus why would he do that, tbf it is Jay and he would explain in middle of a battle 'oh ya btw this is what i've been up to'.

WHAT IM HOPING FOR THE FUTURE (MAYBE):

- jaya angst (this is given shall i say more)

- more jay screen time. PLSPSLSPSSPSLSPSLSPLS

- Arin and Jay friendship. I can talk about my thoughts on Arin's journey in this season later because I rlly like the direction he's going so i'm hoping interactions with them are to come.

- Jay being actually portrayed as a threat. Have him win a fight please

- Maybe angst to come from how the other ninja speak of jay. for example earlier in the season (or season 1 i don't remember) when they described jay they kinda portrayed him as the worst/weakest ninja (i will need to find the clip of what they exactly say later but i believe that's what's implied). I believe that the ninja being like 'oh but we're your family we love you' and jay responding like 'bro nah y'all see me as weak wth you don't love me'. I think it could be fun

Overall, like any season there are parts I liked and parts I didn't, I'm just hoping we have more screen time for our boy jay in the future 🫡

[sunshinemoonrx]

Yellow and pink please!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU. was this the whole reason I did this. maybe

Dynaman: I feel like Rei and Nangou have a similar wavelength for silliness and theatrics, even if his is a bit more exaggerated. It's a bit different to Ryuu's...

Bioman: You guys heard about lesbians? You guys watched Choudenshi Bioman? You ever watched Choudenshi Bioman? Have you ever considered watching Choudenshi "lesbians" Bioman?

I think this is still a good rundown of how the Yellow/Pink/Yellow in that show works for me:

Flashman: You should also watch this one, and it's also lesbians. There's less drama and development to Lou and Sara's relationship, they're just very entertaining Very Good Friends and co-conspirators. They're clearly used to leaving the rest of the team to go off on adventures/dates of their own, and connect on the kind of fun they like to have exploring Earth.

Maskman, Carranger: Hey can a fellow old toku fan remind me if these ones were lesbians because I want them to be but I can't remember. I'm pretty sure Carranger is a bit but I can't remember the specifics beyond Yellow being a dreamboat.

Megaranger: this too is yuri. perhaps fleeting high-school yuri but yuri nonetheless (person who requested a story about them getting back together after graduation for a fix exchange once voice. thanks Tobi btw). Chisato being surprised by how interested in her Miku is...while also always being so concerned for Miku and being there to pick her up when she's having self-confidence issues...I like them

GoGoV: This is interesting to think about! Matsuri and Daimon haven't had a big duo episode that I've gotten to, but the Tatsumi kids are all such rounded-out characters it's easy to pick up on the bonds between each. Daimon's intense, but not in a way that bothers Matsuri, and mostly in response to equally intense stressors (like the eldest brothers). And Daimon really enjoys Matsuri's company because she isn't as intense as Certain People. Plus he's not as likely to snap about dad out of nowhere, so she's able to relax a little more around him.

Abaranger: look it isn't yuri as-is, but maybe Ranru should have rizzed up Emi--

Dekaranger: This too is yuri. I don't have much desire to rewatch Deka, because I feel my hugely positive feelings towards it as a teenager may not stand up to refreshing myself on it as an adult, both in terms of the basic cop stuff, and things like whether I still find Umeko funny. But my god. Those women were dating. And weird and spacey in completely different directions so that they drag each other back to earth. Hey remember when Umeko thought she was dying but it's OK because her last thought was of Jasmine, then Jasmine dragged them back to the land of the living by barehand punching a van off the road. Anyway post-series media do NOT interact

Boukenger: This too is...something. Sakura is cool as hell, and the professional but slightly weird way she interacts with everyone is really fascinating, and the effect this has on Natsuki wanting to measure up (as she also does to Chief, tbf) is nice to see. But also my god Natsuki is so head over heels for Sakura it's beyond a joke. Girl you're fantasising about marrying her. Hey why did you once wake up tied up and assume she'd done it. Answer the question

Shinkenger: This TOO is "one of you is definitely in love but I am not sure if the other sees you as a peer or as a junior due to your respective levels of experience". I say "junior" because "little sister" etc. would imply a distinctly familial dynamic I'm not trying to describe, but y'know, whether she sees you as mature enough to think about you that way. But one-way is also fun tbh? Thank god for gay little yellow rangers. Kotoha is keeping her place in my heart on the current Shinken rewatch. Simple country girl with absolutely terrible self-image and a bunch of ingrained traditionalist worldviews who is also unfathomably desperate to be smothered in her scary MILFy teammate's bosoms. Canonically would marry Mako if it was legal. The heart-eyes crossdressing scene in the Returns movie. Kotoha ilu.

Gokaiger: This too is YURI. They're so sweet constantly snuggled up sleeping together. I'm not a big "X whole sentai team is a polycule" type shipper but Gokai is definitely one of the ones I can get behind, but we're all agreed Marv/Joe and Ahim/Luka are the core unbreakable duos in that, right? Of course a treasure thief would be drawn to a princess...

ToQger: they're cute : ) Mio's got Kagura's back and god knows someone has to. I do think it's interesting that the other way round is like...Kagura maybe isn't the best person for Mio to open up to about her issues, which are a little more complicated?

Kyuranger: I do remember finding Raptor and Spada's friendship pretty cute!

Zenkaiger: I feel like most of Magine and Gaon's relationship is him yelling something while she goes "w-w-wh--slow down!!" or her yelling something while he goes "uwaaaah sowwyyyy", but that's zenkai, init?

Donbrothers: I think it's fucking hilarious Haruka never really gets exposed to the full force of how unhinged Kijino is. That's just some guy I work with. he's normal. he sucks though and I don't respect him. meanwhile Kijino can't help but be aware of how insane Haruka is because she's both loud about it and thinks it's normal. I think she scares him

Goranger, Dairanger, Gingaman: I do not remember these

[ii-neg-confessions-2]

soaps my favourite character and i love her so much but i hate how shes written. the best versions of her character were in episode 8, 9 (? i think i have that right) and 18.

i loved the scene of her taking the first steps towards fighting her compulsions. soap is so fun when shes trying to take the lead and makes a fool of herself or her team in the process. and for ii 18? idk i just liked her interaction with taco and that she had lines in the song

in the newer episodes, despite the crew presumably knowing more about ocd and how to write mental illness, it feels like they actually went back on her. she doesnt freak out over germs, we only see her cleaning in the very last scene shes in and she quickly abandons it to do a twirl (which you go girl ngl). all the scrubbing and cleaning puns dont make up for it either……

she’s kind of falling into the trope of just being the best friend. shes just there to support mic’s character and whatever she does most of the time… then when taco shows up shes pushed to the side (ily taco but MAKE ROOM /silly) ALSO HER HOLDING TISSUES HAND IS CUTE BUT SO OOC SHE WOULDNT DO THAT WITH A SMILE SHE WOULD GRATE HER OWN HAND OFF AFTERWARDS….

i hope in new ii content (if we get any) it at least elaborates on how she went from where we last saw her to where she is now. if they give her a reaallly good explaination then maybe i can forgive how terribly out of character she seems. it has been years in canon since we last saw her tbf… also hopefully she’ll get to be her own character rather than just mic’s protective best friend

i miss her competetive and egotistical side too. i hope theres a scene where she boasts about being the best at video games just to get immediately dunked on. actually i hope she has video game scenes in general because i love gamer soap and we havent even seen her play any in the episodes….

unrelated to all of this but she also did not deserve to be offscreened and tossed aside by mic in ii 16. not cool..

(SOAP. SOAP MENTION!!!!!!! n yes we infact need more soap content oh my god)

[hummus-birb]

My Reverse: 1999 Rarepairs/crackships!

Exactly what it says in the title! I’ve seen a couple other people talk about their favorite rarepairs for r1999, so I thought I’d do it for mine!!

(Technically some of these are just characters I think would interact well, not all of them have to be romantic) (and also not all of them are super duper rare)

An-An Lee x Poltergeist

- I just really like the ghost enthusiast x ghost dynamic in general, this counts for horropedia and An-An Lee with any of the ghost characters tbf

- But An-An Lee and Poltergeist specifically would be cool because of their personalities!!

- Poltergeist is obviously more shy, while An-An Lee seems a bit more outspoken, and I can really see An-An Lee helping Poltergeist help gain confidence!

- Either way, very cute dynamic and I like it a lot!

Tennant x Sweetheart

- Originally, Sweetheart was my main theory for who the other character in Tennants I2 Portrait, along with maybe Mesmer Jr.

- While I definitely don’t think it is anymore, I still like the concept of them having a relationship!

- Tennant would definitely be in it to scam Sweetheart, but I think Sweetheart would at least know some of it due to her being familiar with Hollywood secrets and the drama that goes down there

- If they did become “partners in crime” I think they would legitimately be the best power-couple ever. I just don’t know if there would ever be a scenario where they both show their cards, so I don’t know if they’d ever reach that point sadly.

- Their rich girlboss energy knows no bounds, and together they will be unstoppable

Sweetheart x Bette

- Actor x Stunt double, just another fun concept!! (I saw a similar idea with Blonney and Bette as well, which would also be cool!)

- Sweetheart is sassy and assertive but befriends her innocent stunt double and takes her to Hollywood parties

- Bette is so confused but Sweetheart is her idol so it’s not like she’s going to say no

- It would basically be like the sassy popular girl falls in love with nerd/shy girl trope, Hollywood edition

- I think they would be very cute though!

ONiON x TTT

- The only news station TTT isn’t sick of

- She was actually covered by one of ONiON’s stories, and she’s been a big fan ever since!

- When ONiON meets her, they hit it off immediately!

- Both of them have different brands of eccentric show host vibes and I’m here for it

AliEn T x Sputnik

- The space besties

- Sputnik literally references AliEn T’s lines, what can I say

- Mostly just them lying to each other about exactly what/who they are to hilarious results

Bkornblume x Click

- Sitting as silence as we speak (consider each other their best friends and know each other really well despite this)

- There’s really no other special reason, I just think they’d get along!!

Constantine x Vertin’s Mom

- Not super rare technically

- There is no info on it but it’s both a super interesting and very funny concept

- I saw a post a while ago about the parallels between Madame Z, Constantine, and Vertin’s Mom to Matilda, Sonetto, and Vertin, and it was really cool!

Regulus x X

- Technically this one I like more as a friendship, but I still want to talk about it

- Regulus hung out with X for longer than she did Vertin, there’s no way they aren’t at least somewhat friends

- They’re both sneakily coming up with ideas of pranking people with machines (They were both definitely giggling at the idea of pouring tea on Forget-me-not)

- Silly little goobers, mostly

[sleepymccoy]

Alright, I have been thinking about spaceships!!

Basic premise, we don't have light speed tech so it's all within the solar system. Moons and some planets are terraformed, there are space stations, so on. I haven't designed anything with fake gravity, so the ships would need to handle gravity and zero grav in space. That's mostly fixtures though, the structure is fairly unchanged I reckon, cos it does all still need to work in gravity. Because of that, the engines are taking up a bit of space. And i've tried to leave some dead space in the ship cos i'm sure i'll come up with more scientific necessities, like I'm already thinking about constantly having to create fuel to burn to leave orbit.

Other thing, this ship has to work in three ways. One, space flight/leaving orbit stuff. Two, can park on solid ground and has a functional trade door. Three, has some way of fishing while hovering over the open ocean. That's why every ship has a "fishing" zone for the fishing part of things. They're all at the bottom of the ship, obvs.

Also, you'll probably get this from my writing the pros and cons, but this is for a romance that just happens to be set in space lol

First of all, the UFO

Basic UFO design premise. One big wide disc, on one level.

Pros: I can fuck around with the design on the one level pretty freely, and don't need to commit to shit For example, storage and rooms should def swap cos rooms can have windows then. This can have whole areas the pov character doesn't go to very easily. Open plan means secrets and privacy are harder to have, encourages drama.

Cons: The design doesn't make sense against like air drag and leaving orbit. It' so not aerodynamic. Maybe it takes off at a 90 degree angle, so like every room has a take off chair fitted to the wall cos it's gonna flip to its side. Okay, that's kinda fun, this shouldn't be in the con line anymore but whatever. It's a good example that all cons can be overcome x

Second, let's look at the Slice

Pros: Small and intimate. There's less rooms so everyones sharing a room with another shift, which gives everyone a unique friendship with one person on another shift schedule. Can't hang out in your room, so gotta see other people, encourage interaction. Tbf, I can make that happen in the other designs if I decide it's too cool to skip

Cons: also not aerodynamic. Very good in space or staying in gravity. Maybe it has another way it sorta collapses in to leave orbit, like the angle bit on the hangy downy slides up to be more like an arrow head. Yeah alright, there' another con that's become a cool pro. Actual con! Not having your own room lessens how easy it is to have sex. Although i guess the shifts undo that, cos you wouldn't want to risk waking the person who's got the room rn. Could be a fun pro as secret sex is much harder to do. Ugh

The Ball

Pros: Hysterical. Quite a bit of space. Confusing layout gives you nooks and crannies to bump into someone in a sexual tension way. Aerodynamic enough i guess? Fucking wild looking, it's just a big ol ball. I could redesign this a bit to be like a luxury yacht that's been refitted to be a fishing boat, which'd add some fun world building stuff. And some crazy down time options

Cons: This feels the most disjointed to me really. And it would be so damned hard to build. Oh, the multi level idea, which i kinda forget when drawing, is that 1B would be accessible through floor holes in the 2C corridors. They probably dont line up cos I forgot about it. Actually, they kinda nearly do. Cool.

Here's a poll so you can choose lol. I'll do another poll in reblogs with some of the features so you can suggest what you think is the most important feature, if you really want to have a say! I love feedback and brainstorming, so please, bring your heart <3

[my-pjo-stuff]

Opinions on lukercy? *asks deviously*

I mean...idc? Like, Lukercy ain't really my cup of tea- but it's not like I hate it or something. I don't rly do PJO ships besides Thaluke- and even there I'm just as good with them being platonic. So Lukercy, like any PJO ship, is just sort of ...there, at least for me. But I genuinely love the shippers! Like even if I personally don't ship it the guys that do are some of the chillest, most respectful non-toxic fans in this fandom. Which...okay tbf the bar is in literal hell- but I do genuinely mean it! To share a little anecdote here- So when I first read the PJO books I had this series up on my main where I posted my thoughts and reactions to the chapters. This obviously attracted some older fans who talked with me and commented, all really nice and innocent stuff. Thing was, I was always very pro-Luke ever since TLT. I genuinely loved the guy- to the point where he unironically was the main draw to the books for me. In comparison, I didn't really care for Percy and CHB people, as I found them rather bland compared to the TA demigods all things considered.

Which- out of context that is nothing bad! Absolutely not- it turned into one though when someone at some point asked my thoughts on Percy/Percabeth. I replied to them with the things I said above, that I find them rather bland compared to Luke and that I don't rly care too much for them. And MAN when I tell you that reaction was WIIILLDDD. They went on like an 8 messages rant in the notify section of that post about how I "just don't get it" and "Am so unfair" and just "judge characters on the amount of trauma they have" 💀 Genuinly that is a forever PJO fandom core memory now. They even demanded me to talk about and dig into Percy like I did with Luke because they "knew that I could do it since I did it with Luke". That shit was crazy- they sounded like my teacher wanting me to write more in a poem analysis or sum T-T Fr the only reason I didn't block them then and there was bc previously they were pretty active with my posts and nice to me- had that user been a stranger they would have been blocked SO fast. After that they just interacted less and less with my stuff and I haven't spotted them in my notes since lmao. So yeah, that's my fun story of how a Percabeth Shipper/Percy fan basically demanded that I go and analyze their favs just bc I could do it, and they wanted me to. And, well- say what you want but that certainly never happened with any Lukercy shippers XD Some of my oldest PJO mutuals and friends are Lukercy shippers actually, genuinely great ppl! I think all the hate you guys get is just genuinely weird af like??? It's a fictional ship between two fictional characters, calm down man. Yes I can see how some ppl might be uncomfortable with it and would prefer to just block the tag and users who like it entirely- but it ain't that deep. Go outside. Hug your family. Get some hobbies. IDK just stop treating a fictional yaoi ship like the plague itself. At this point it just straight up borders on weird how worked up some ppl get XD I do read some fics and like some art, mostly bc, again, a good amount of nice mutuals of mine ship it and I'm just supporting their work. TL:DR : Not my cup of tea, but I love the guys who ship it and never had one single bad experience with them. As opposed to everyone else. Also ppl should stop hating on it so much and just move on if they don't like it.

[cephalog0d]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag @babblingbookends!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

89! (tbf a lot of them are drabbles XD)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

62,284. Higher than I thought!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Batfam, occasionally branching into other DC, occasionally gift fics for others and original work.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Bomb Sing Se (arguably the fic that got me to actually write and post things instead of just keeping stuff to me and a couple friends)

Comfort Food

Bower Birds

Relation

Bat Math

5. Do you respond to comments?

Absolutely! I try to respond to every comment I get, I appreciate every single one so much.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Well Relative Velocity is the only time I've ever used the "Hurt No Comfort" tag so.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of what I write is silly humorous nonsense so I think most of them are happy endings? I like the fluffy siblings ending on Midnight Snack a lot.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not anywhere I've ever seen it, luckily!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nah, not really my thing.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I've done fandom fusion ones like Venom!Steph but I don't know if that counts as a crossover since it's still all characters from one setting, just with setting elements from another property.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, luckily!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of, but that would be super cool!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet! But we'll see. :)

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Uhhhhh I'm gonna say Leverage OT3? (I don't really have a lot of strong "this is my thing" ship opinions.)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

*quietly sliding my giant WIP/fic idea spreadsheet under the rug to hide it* I have too many. So, so many.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I'm good at the banter thing. I really enjoy writing back and forth dialogue, especially for humor, but also for serious conversations. It's often the part I think about the most and spend the most time on. (I think I'm also pretty good at world building stuff, but that doesn't always come up with fanfic.)

17: What are your writing weaknesses?

The focus to finish plotting/writing long stories is definitely one I'm not great at. I have the ideas, but my brain sees another shiny new idea and goes "but what about that". It's something I'm working on.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

It depends? For one thing there's the whole thing of having the knowledge/resources to actually have accurate translations, which may or may not be difficult to do, but also I think it depends on who the POV character is. If you put in dialogue in another language people can look it up and see what it means, so it can be a fun way to have a little easter egg that the audience knows and the POV character doesn't, but if you don't want to give stuff away it's better to just say they're speaking X language, or maybe POV character recognizes a word or two but not the whole statement.

19. First fandom you wrote for? 

Batfam stuff is what made me actually start interacting with fandom instead of being a weird internet lurker talking to my friends about things I like so.

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Oh boy, I don't even know...I'm gonna say Finders Keepers because I really love that AU and that's the one that started it.

And that's that!

No pressure tags for @outtoshatter @2dents @teleportationmagic @kayrielwrites @sepia-stained-sunset !

[alitgblog]

s11 vol 9 thoughts

first off, I'm so sorry to everyone else but I am sort of eating up the shitty pride and prejudice adaptation this season with Dominic but not to give fusebox too much credit, I do think I'm fully biased because it's only after I made the connection in my head. But like I absolutely understand why it's frustrating because (a) it's not well written/well paced, (b) your MC's personality is forced on you and (c) your only LI options are the person you picked volume 1, Tunde/Harvey, or Dominic. So that's just another thing forced on you which is not fun for a interactive fiction game. Like a visual novel? sure, if the writing was there. But you can't be bad at both the writing/story and the choices aspect of it.

Like it's almost giving S5 vibes even past the ex in the villa twist in casa, except you get the illusion of choice of who your Alfie is (OG boys/Tunde/Harvey). And there's no Finn but there honestly easily could've been.

Also oh my god the season feels like it's dragging on for sure

ok that being said, I too am sick of the Esme and Jace thing. I don't mind Esme being a little messy I kinda like her for that shed be boring otherwise but I understand fusebox has a bit of a problem with handling female characters let alone black female characters. there's definitely a way to write this so she would have similar struggles but come off less annoying and hypocritical. Jace however I've hated from the jump and this volume furthers that narrative. Said it last time too but missed opportunity for a friends to lovers slow build storyline with Kenzo where Esme is absolutely shocked that MC takes him in the last recoupling

And that's really the theme of this volume recap tbh: "said it last time" because it feels like everything just got dragged out further aside from Sonya entering.

Especially because I could've sworn Kenzo, Jace, and Esme already talked and if not, they should've? Jace interrupting the dates so Esme and Kenzo and him could talk us so vague and odd pacing wise, I would've rather they talk about it last volume and pretend to patch it up, then it should've escalated FURTHER this volume. and like it sort of did when Jace and Esme kissed and Kenzo had to take a walk or whatever, but that shows we didn't need Jace making a big deal at the date imo.

there's a part where Anna predicts Maisie is coming back and between that and the tunde coming back thing, I'm not a fan of the meta commentary of it? plus it lowers the stakes if we have to assure the audience someone that was dumped is coming back.

i have mixed feelings on the date scene. Good things: First of all, as someone who likes the dominic storyline but only because I realized it's a p&p adaptation, I'm living for their conversation. Secondly, the date crashing post casa recoupling was great, and honestly? if only Tunde and Ren were there for it too, the way that stick or twist SHOULD work. And Maisie too. Because the idea of people interrupting dates just makes for good tension and could've been fast paced, a lot of shuffling, the way speed dates in game work but more purposeful. So I like the idea. I probably would've also liked to see a moment where callum and dominic end up both being at the singles table and arguing until their argument comes to a big explosion (or Jace and kenzo). However, going into the bad stuff: no one really said anything aside from the first conversation? the dates were too quick and we're too focused on other people's dates.

Callum never says anything of importance anymore, not that he did initially (without paying gems at least), aside from "I'm gonna win you back just wait." And this is very clear during the dates. Tbf, Dominic doesn't either, he just also has the added bonus of constantly mentioning hey remember when I stole that job from you. He gets a few more points here for talking about his grandparents in Spain and that he's stubborn when it comes to love because I guess I personally prefer that tension over Callum being head over heels for MC at first sight.

and once again Jace makes it all about him getting all mad and not even when esme is with Kenzo, like she's literally talking to Dominic. He's just being extra irritating and even Ruby is noticing (personally I'm just glad that as someone playing a straight route she gets to talk about something other than a boy sleighting her).

Anyway I could've wingmaned Zac and Ruby only for him to fuck it up two scenes later, that would've been cool but I understand with the branching and that Ruby is a wlw route, we were never gonna get that, so the real solution is we need an extra couple around of characters that don't hate us. like maybe I do want it to be friend island

So then we have the secrets game, which is a snooze especially because you need to pay gems to reveal the Zac and Anna stuff, and I wasn't willing so it's not important, and the big reveal that Jace and Esme kissed behind Kenzo's back doesn't even get revealed during the game?? It feels like the perfect opportunity to integrate the game and the drama but it's just mentioned separately which seems silly. The rest of the secrets were both boring and somehow made me disgusted at everyone a little bit more.

I don't remember when this happens but Dominic getting flustered trying to set up a cute date for MC without her knowing was mildly cute, but I wanna focus on how funny it is that after Callum learns of this he's like "uhm! I also! have a special night planned" like he threw it in last minute because of Dominic's plans like I know that wasn't the intention but I am choosing to read it like that because it is funnier.

also low key why was this kinda hot I'm in love with MC

Maisie is back and she's right: the islanders were not excited enough, we should've thrown a parade in her honor.

I also didn't care to find out what happened at the sleepover or whatever.

But Sonya is here and she's very pretty and I need her to be a good character even though she's going after your LI PLEASE, I can't deal with another Vida/Zabrina.

Being spies with Anna? Why are we friends that's crazy because every time I think she's growing on me she stirs some shit up the next episode and I'm annoyed again

No but also why does she have MC's back more than Esme and Ruby. Like maybe yall didn't like it, but I think my MC would've eavesdropped lol.

Also lowkey the dialogue between Dominic and Sonya, even though I know it's gonna be a silly misunderstanding situation, is kinda the best dialogue of the season. Only possibly rivaled with Reid's dialogue basically ever since stick or twist

And Sonya gets to steal someone. with the amount of episodes left, I doubt it's your LI unless fusebox is increasing back to 42 or 48 episodes. Which means maybe it's your other LI (as in either Dominic or Callum/Tunde/etc.)? Or better yet, Jace, which gets Esme riled up and we continue that storyline for another thousand years 🙄